From The Sun:

“The manager has said I can leave if I want — but I want to prove him wrong. I want to stay here.

“He called me into his office and told me.

At first, I thought it was a joke. I thought he was going to say I would be starting against Arsenal in the Carling Cup, which was why he didn’t give me a game against Reading at the weekend.

“But he just said ‘You can leave if you want to’. Yet I have no intentions of leaving this club because I love it here.

“I would love to sign a new contract — and I know people at the top of the club want me to stay.

“But no one can expect me to sign a new deal if I can’t get a game.”

I can't help but laugh. If it's true, then Ramos and the club are actually doing the right thing here. Defoe is looking for the Bosman, plain and simple. And the club don't want to lose out on several million quid. Why should they? It happened with that Judas c*nt, and having to listen to more 'I love it here' soundbites grates me.

The reason he doesn't start more games is because he's not in the same class as Robbie Keane, let alone Berbatov. He has no footballing brain and blows hot and cold far too often to be anywhere near consistent. Fact is, he is dispensable. The club won't be fooled again. He's claiming that this is Ramos telling him he can leave, rather than DL or DC. Believing word for word anything that the papers print is always foolish, so at the moment I don't see this as anything else but a rehash.

If you wanted to look beyond the sensationalism, the story may be as simplistic as Ramos telling the player if he wants to leave he can leave and Defoe stating he wants to be top of the pecking order at the club. Defoe will take the option to leave for the reason given earlier.